


Luke and the Mysterious Song-Finisher

by Avvkward



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alive Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Attempt at Humor, Clueless Luke (Julie and The Phantoms), Crushes, Cute, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Fluff, Fluffyfest, Funny, Getting Together, Good Friend Alex (Julie and The Phantoms), Good Friend Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Helpful Julie Molina, High School, Luke Patterson Loves Julie Molina, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Pining, Pre-Relationship, Reggie and Alex are Luke's Cheerleaders, Songwriter Luke (Julie and The Phantoms)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:28:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27978108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avvkward/pseuds/Avvkward
Summary: When Luke accidentally leaves an unfinished song (that had been stumping him for the better part of three days) on his desk, he returns at the end of the day to find it almost finished.Someone had worked on his song and... it wasperfect?The question is, who on earth would've done that? And why does his heart flutter everytime he looks down at the little note this anonymous song-finisher had left for him?
Relationships: Alex & Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina & Luke Patterson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 383





	Luke and the Mysterious Song-Finisher

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to another JATP's fanfiction! I was writing something whumpy and angsty for Reggie and then I got completely derailed on that when this idea came to me, so I started focusing on this fic. It is definitely longer than I thought it was going to be, but I love it-- and I hope whoever read it does too!
> 
> Now, without spoiling anything, enjoy!

Luke Patterson had a talent for writing songs. He knew he was good—that his songs were good. It truly was a gift—or, maybe there was just so much in his life that he could write about. Like, for example, Reggie’s crooked teeth being the inspiration behind... well, _Crooked Teeth_. 

As much could be said for _Get Lost_ and _Long Weekend_ too, which... well, all clearly stemmed from specific inspiration. 

And he wasn’t even going to mention _My Name is Luke_ \-- he’d already been teased by Alex and Reggie enough to make him flush whenever the song name was brought up. Of course, it hadn’t been enough to make him reconsider the perfectly acceptable name. 

Besides, he’d like to see them do better at naming anything, because it really was hard to capture everything the song had to offer in a couple words. Or worse, in a single word. Luke’s brain just didn’t think like that—like tying everything together in some surprising way that didn’t get the overall idea of the song out there. 

So, maybe his talent waned when it came to creating his titles, but it was what was on the inside that was important. It was the words of his songs, and the killer guitar, drums and bass that really brought everything to life. Names be damned. 

Why get all creative when his forthright names got the job done? 

You’d know exactly what you were getting into when you started playing a song called _Crooked Teeth_. No beating around the bush, just awesome music. And it worked for Luke. For Sunset Curve. 

Generally, Luke tended to emotion drop his lyrics in his journal, where everything was compiled and organized in his hard-to-make-out chicken scratch, where only his eyes could really read it. A secret song decrypted until he told his friends what everything said. Even though Alex and Reggie were both starting to read his words—it kinda sucked. 

He usually always had his book, or it was hidden somewhere near him while he was at school, like in his locker, or his backpack. He’d spend long hours at home hunched over his songbook instead of the textbook he should’ve been reading for his homework, or possibly a test the following day. 

Priorities, because he knew his band would take him places in life, but he honestly thought algebra was a load of BS. Letters should stay in the alphabet, and numbers in math. 

The point was, he spent a lot of time writing. A lot of time putting words to page, and adding beats and rhythms to make the lyrics pop. He dedicated a lot of his time to his music. His song book was like a lifeline—where he kept his thoughts, but it certainly _wasn’t_ a dumb diary, no matter what anyone who saw him walking around with it thought. 

It was a way to vent, instead of throwing a chair at someone, or screaming at the top of his lungs like school often made him want to do. Perfectly reasonable. 

Afterall, he’d written his song for his mother, _Unsaid Emily_ , which was really just a vent song for his messy emotions. Luke couldn’t express his emotions like other people, by the means of just... saying what he was thinking. Instead, he stewed away on his emotions, and furiously wrote down whatever came to him in his moment of strong emotion. He needed to find his own way through his emotions, and that way just so happened to be through his lyrics. 

When inspiration struck, Luke tried to always get it down somewhere, but that didn’t always happen to be in his song book. 

Sometimes Luke would just scribble the lyrics coming to him on loose-leaf from his binder—which was what he was doing today. 

His song book was tucked away in his locker, since he’d thought in his music class, they’d have been playing their instruments, instead of listening to the teacher ramble on about dead dudes and their music—which, was cool enough. He liked some of their music, the classical guys like Mozart and Beethoven, but he’d much rather be riffing on his guitar than slumped over his desk. 

When Luke was bored, he always found himself scribbling down lyrics. More often than not, he was writing out words that were usually useless towards anything band related. 

These lyrics however, were different than the ones he usually did. Bored lyrics were completely different that inspiration lyrics. There was really no... basis. They didn’t really follow a theme. These were the songs he’d usually never bring up again, words on a page that had little to no meaning to him. 

A pastime while he waited out the hour. 

He liked to keep them though, to tuck the scrap paper into his song book and look back at it later—maybe for inspiration or to try and take the words written somewhere in song that could possibly make it to band practice. 

Besides, if he didn’t write it on paper, it would definitely be scratched into the desk by his pencil, because he really couldn’t just leave an idea in his head. When his mind wondered, so did his hand. 

His teachers tended to call his parents when he did that though, and a grounding usually followed that, so he tried hard to keep his words on his paper instead of school property. 

Today though, as Luke stared down at his words; guitar, bass and drum beats filling his head as he pieced a song together with the lyrics. It was starting to sound good. It looked good, things falling into place as the hour-long period continued on. 

It was the third day he was working on this song—he'd started three days prior, in a class just as boring as this one, but instead of slipping it into his songbook and leaving it until it served a better purpose when he got the chance, he left it in his binder for the next uninteresting class he attended. 

It was the works of a pretty decent song, with the main thought of it being his band in general. He’d looked over at some point, to Alex, who was hunched over copying notes Luke would no doubt be begging to get a copy of later, and his mind had wondered to both Alex and Reggie, as well as Sunset Curve in general. 

The words falling onto the paper stemmed from his thoughts of the band. Of Reggie and Alex, the three of them and their band. The friendship they’d kindled in early childhood and grasped tightly through everything thrown at them—school issues, home issues, and even identity issues. 

_Sometimes we gotta lean  
Lean on someone else  
To get a little help  
Until we find our way_

He was thinking about them as a band. Their road to something bigger than playing tiny venues for free just to get their name out there, or playing for their classmates to get that media following, or, even crashing book clubs. They could be so much bigger—so much better. But they needed to build themselves up, to get that street cred, and a loyal following before they’d take off. 

_We all make mistakes  
But they're just stepping stones  
To take us where we wanna go  
It's never straight, no_

It was flowing out of him, but it... something wasn’t right. There was like this... point he was walking circles around. It was there, but he couldn’t seem to see it. Something to complete the chorus, and make it catchy. 

_I believe  
I believe that we're just one dream  
Away from who we're meant to be  
That we're standing on the edge of  
Something big, something crazy  
Our best days are yet unknown  
That this moment is ours to own_

He was missing something. 

It had body, but it... needed something more. The details, and the hooking factor. No one would stop to listen to these three paragraphs—it was barely a song, but Luke was stumped. 

It was so frustrating. Something didn’t sound right there. It needed... something. But what? 

“Luke!” 

The teen lifted his head in surprise, eyes unfocused around the room from staring down at his paper. The room was empty now, just Luke and Alex, who was in this class with him, as well as his last period where they’d meet up with Reggie again. 

Last time Luke had looked up, the room had been filled with uninterested teenagers, all suffering through the lecture along with him. 

Everyone was gone now. The room cleared, and chairs pushed in. There were even kids from the next class starting to filter in and take their seats. 

“What?” Luke blinked, then reached a fist up to rub at his eye before finally focusing on his blond friend. Alex looked impatient, huffing a sigh when he finally caught Luke’s eyes. 

“We’re gonna be late,” Alex tutted, grabbing Luke’s binder and stacking on top of his own to carry, like he usually did when Luke was behind, or being too slow. Luke already had to grab his cluttered pile of loose-leaf, each marked with lyrics, or doodles. “I’ve been calling your name for like three minutes. I was about to smack you.” 

“Rude,” Luke wrinkled his nose, but stood up abruptly, palm flattening on the collection of papers to stack them in an almost orderly pile. Alex rolled his eyes, foot tapping as he waited. For a guy who hated school just as much as Luke, he was certainly all about punctuality and getting good grades. 

“Let’s go,” Alex whined impatiently, “I swear, if I get another tardy on your account you, you’ll be the one explaining it to my dad.” 

“We won’t be late,” Luke rolled his eyes, finally pulling the stack of papers into his arms and shifting around his chair to stand beside Alex. “She likes you too much to give you a tardy anyways.” 

Luke gestured Alex ahead, to which the blond scowled, at both the command to lead the way, as well as the comment. He did walk ahead though with Luke on his heels.

* * *

The next class had Luke a lot more involved. He managed to keep himself distracted with the work, not bothering to card through his papers and pull out his newest song to continue working on it. Not that he was sure he’d even be able to come up with whatever it needed. 

If he hadn’t in the three days he’d been working on it, it was unlikely he would now. He needed an outsider’s perspective now—someone who could see and add whatever Luke was missing. 

But it definitely needed something. Something Luke couldn’t think of. 

He’d run what he had so far by Alex and Reggie after school, and maybe they’d be able to help him out. Three heads were better than one, so long as Reggie didn’t try to make it a country song. 

This class didn’t drag on nearly as long as whatever musical theory lesson he and Alex had suffered through, before Luke knew it, he was stood at his locker with his boys, backpack on the floor while he carded through the pile of paper’s he’d had tucked under his binder the whole lesson. 

He pawed through them, blinking as each page flipped passed, but no sign of what could possibly be their next biggest song. 

“It’s not here,” Luke told his friends, nose scrunching up as he carded through a second time, “seriously, it’s not here.” 

“Maybe you dropped it?” Reggie suggested with a shrug, “you have before. Remember when you dropped your physics homework?” 

“I didn’t,” Luke assured, “I didn’t drop anything... I-” he scowled at Alex, “was rushed along and probably left it on the desk. Thanks, Alex.” 

“Hey, don’t blame me for you spacing out,” Alex huffed, “I’ll leave you next time.” 

No, he wouldn’t, and Luke knew it was an empty threat. Alex was all bark and no bite when it came to himself and Reggie. The feeling was mutual though, for all three of them. Friendship like theirs came with a certain level of sarcasm, annoyance, trust and mutual understanding. 

“It’s whatever,” Luke shook his head, “c’mon, it’s probably still in the classroom. We can look at least. Maybe the teacher picked it up or something?” 

“Sounds good to me,” Alex shrugged from where he was leaning against the random locker beside Luke’s. 

“So, you’re finally going to let us see it?” Reggie tilted his head as Luke closed and locked his locker before grabbing his bag and throwing it over one shoulder. “You’ve been hunched over that for at least two days.” 

“Three,” Luke corrected with a lopsided grin thrown to his friend, “and I just couldn’t figure it out, y’know? I’ve got this melody, and a good start on the lyrics, but it’s missing something. Maybe you two can help me out—but so help me if you try to turn it country, Reg.” 

Reggie gave a laugh, holding his hands up in surrender before grabbing the straps of his backpack that were over his shoulder to give his hands something to do, “we can look, but we aren’t song writer extraordinaire’s like you.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Luke snorted a laugh he finally walked away from his locker, Reggie and Alex following behind like puppies. “Seriously though, this song’s gonna be huge. It’ll be our band anthem, I’m tellin’ ya.” 

The classroom door was open, like it always was while the actual doors to the school were still unlocked for students leaving and extracurricular activities happening. None of the teachers really locked their classrooms unless they planned on leaving the school, or students happened to leave personal belongings in the room for whatever reason. 

Or if the classroom had something expensive or dangerous in it, like the music rooms and the science labs. Not that anyone really bothered with the instruments in the music room, plus Mrs. Harrison had a lot of trust in all the students who entered her classroom—mostly just the music kids anyways. 

Luke poked his head in while Alex and Reggie basically ran into him when he stopped. Luke gave them a glare before finally stepping into the room. 

There were still some kids in the room from the class to just finish, collecting their belongings before leaving for the night. The class was a grade or two below Luke and his friends, but he knew a lot of them from the music program that was all the grades collected into one big class of talented musicians. 

It was arguably the best class-- Luke, Alex and Reggie all agreed on that. 

Luke caught sight of Julie Molina, standing on the other side of the room, chatting with Flynn, who was still sitting in her chair while she packed up her pens. The two were laughing about whatever—girl stuff? —and chatting quietly between the two of them. 

He was quick to avert his attention in fear that Julie would see him looking. He didn’t want to be caught in the act of staring at her, which he always happened to be doing whenever they were in the same room. 

He’d kinda had this huge crush on her since she’d started in the music program. She had the voice of an angel, and he was instantly blown away when she got up to play the piano and sang along like it was second nature. He’d thought he was a good singer, but Julie was incredible. 

And, well, he’d sort of been harboring this crush since that first time she sang for them, when she’d joined the class as a freshman last year. 

What he wouldn’t give to perform a duet with her... 

Luke shook himself from his thoughts, ignoring the way Alex cleared his throat with a teasing grin, and Reggie gave a quiet laugh when they noticed who he’d been staring at. God, they were going to have a field day when the three of them were hidden away in their studio later. 

They’d never say anything in school where it could be overheard, but they’d let loose in the safety of their own space. 

Luke rolled his eyes, letting out a huffed breath to convey his annoyance with his friends as he stalked towards his desk and looked around absently for the piece of slightly rumpled loose-leaf he’d been scribbling lyrics onto for the better part of three days. 

It didn’t take long to find—in fact, someone had set the paper on the corner of the desk. Probably whoever sat in the seat after him. 

Luke let out a sigh of relief, taking the paper into his hands and reading it over quickly before grinning at Alex and Reggie, who crowded around him to look too. 

“Found it?” Reggie tilted his head. 

Luke gave a nod, finally handing the sheet over to Alex so he could read it. Reggie stepped beside Alex, leaning into his personal space to read it over as well. Alex’s eyebrows furrowed, while Reggie’s nose scrunched up. 

Luke shifted from foot to foot, anxiously waiting to see what his friends thought. He glanced around the room, seeing that just about everyone had cleared out. Julie and Flynn included. 

“I don’t know what you want us to add,” Alex shrugged, “it looks awesome to me?” 

“You’re kidding, right?” Luke raised an eyebrow, “there’s no chorus, and there’s only like three stanzas. That’s nowhere near an awesome song. Which,” Luke gave a small laugh as he lifted his hand to rub at the back of his neck, “is exactly why I needed your guys’ help.” 

“Uh... yeah there is,” Reggie furrowed his eyebrows, squinting at Luke thoughtfully, “the rough draft needed a bit of work, but the second copy looked pretty good.” 

“Second copy?” Luke repeated as he blinked, lifting himself onto his toes to look over the edge of the paper that his friends were reading. What second copy? There was barely a first copy. 

“Uh huh,” Alex gave a shrug, “who’d you have working with you? I didn’t see you talking to anyone in class, and no one with writing like this?” 

“Gimme that,” Luke huffed, pulling the paper from Alex’s hands, where his friend let out a noise of protest, instantly groaning dramatically about a papercut Luke had just given him. “Where did you find this?” 

“Uh,” Alex shot a look towards Reggie, who shrugged, “behind the first page of your chicken-scratch?” 

Luke gaped down at the papers in his hands—his original chicken-scratch of lyrics, and the second copy of his song Alex had noticed, printed neatly and... with more added? Progress had been made past where Luke had been stuck. Someone who wasn’t him, or Reggie, or Alex, had been working on his song and... it was good? 

There was a title scrawled across the top of the second sheet of loose-leaf in a neat, almost girly handwriting— _Edge of Great_ , followed by what could only be a chorus underneath that, and a couple more stanzas below that as well, which were all totally new too. 

Whoever this was, had organized what was already there of Luke’s song, into a way that flowed much better (rewriting it all on a new sheet of paper without marking up the original), written out their own verses to add to it, named it perfectly to fit what Luke had been getting at, and still remained completely anonymous. 

This mystery person had not only read the song, but continued on with it— capturing exactly what Luke had been going for perfectly. It was like someone else had just stepped into his head and finished the song perfectly for him. They’d really added what he’d been missing, all while tying it all together with a perfect name? 

It was so good. Like seriously, whoever this was, they were amazing. A talented songwriter and just generally amazing. Luke was sure he was in love with whoever it was, just by the way his heart thumped in his chest as he reread and reread what was on the second sheet of loose-leaf. 

_'Cause we're standing on the edge of great  
(On the edge of great) Great  
(On the edge of great) Great  
(On the edge of great)  
'Cause we're standing on the edge of..._

The more Luke read it over, humming the new lyrics to himself as he dropped in imaginary guitar, drums and bass by pointing to each of his friends when he plotted a string of lyrics together, the more he was falling in love with the song, and what it stood for. 

And, by default, whoever had helped him along. Because this was totally amazing. They’d captured it all, and filled in the blanks Luke had been walking aimless circles around. And all within the hour the song had been left alone while Luke was in his last period. 

_Shout, shout  
C'mon and let it out, out  
Don't gotta hide it  
Let your colors blind their eyes  
Be who you are no compromise_

Whoever had helped him out, was so incredibly awesome. He wasn’t even mad someone had looked through his song—they'd done him a solid and helped him along. And he loved it. He loved the song, and really couldn’t wait for them to get to band rehearsal because this was going to be killer when it was prettied up with the instruments. 

The lyrics alone were fantastic, but them, and his amazing friends and their musical genius? Now that was going to be totally perfect. 

_I believe  
I believe that we're just one dream  
Away from who we're meant to be  
That we're standing on the edge of great_

It, of course, wasn’t anywhere near finished. It was an amazing start, and with what the stranger had left for him, Luke was sure he could sort the rest out alone within the next few hours. Whoever had helped him, had given him just what he was looking for. Edge of Great. It was so perfect for the theme of the song, as well as the lyrics the mystery person had added along. 

Luke was sure he’d never be able to come up with a chorus like that, that fit with what he already had if he tried—which, he had been trying, with no such luck. 

He still needed to organize everything with the actual instruments, instead of just listening to the instruments in his head and leaving his friends to watch him like an insane person as the whole song played out in his head. 

But honestly, it was so perfect. 

At the bottom of the page, below the rewritten song, there was a note. A little apology that really gave Luke nothing of who this person was, or why they decided to help him out without wanting credit. 

Instead, it left him with nothing other than a warm feeling in his chest. It was obviously been meant for him, as the owner of the rough draft this person had stumbled upon. 

_I found this on the ground by my desk, if you happen to be looking for it. I love the roots of this, it’s really amazing. Sorry I read it, but I was going to throw it out if it was just litter on the floor. I hope you don’t mind the additions, I just thought they’d sound good with what you have so far. I didn’t want to write on your copy, so feel free to throw this one out if you don’t like it. Excited to see the finished product, whether you use what I helped with or not! <3 _

“Someone worked on my song,” Luke stammered out when he remembered that Alex and Reggie were in the room with him still. “Someone worked on my song without me, and it’s... _perfect_.” 

“Wait,” Alex blinked, “someone wrote that without you? You, like, had no say?” 

“Nope,” Luke grinned, flattening the paper onto the desk between the three of them, and poking his finger right beside the little message left. Alex leaned over the desk to read it, Reggie following suit. “Left my draft here by accident, and then you find this gift from the universe.” 

“Someone finished your song?” Reggie scrunched his nose up, attention lifting from the page to Luke with a confused head tilt, “who would do that?” 

“You’re not... mad about this?” Alex carried on before Luke could answer Reggie’s question. 

“Definitely not,” Luke shook his head, “and I honestly have no idea who would’ve added to it. It was someone in Mrs. Harrison’s last period though, I know that much.” 

“Awh,” Reggie gave a fond smile, “that’s actually kinda sweet, that someone continued on and helped you with your song even if they don’t know you.” 

“I don’t know, Reg,” Alex shrugged, “whoever this is seemed to know who it belonged too, I mean, look at the little heart at the end—And the ‘excited to see the finished product’? Definitely someone who knows us, or, Luke at least.” 

“Adorable,” Reggie sighed fondly, “girls and their little heart drawings, so cute.” 

Luke gave a laugh at Reggie, patting his bassist on the shoulder. He did agree, the little heart had his own heart skipping a beat in his chest. He really didn’t know why this made him as happy as it did. No one had ever done this before—and, well, Luke very rarely left a song work in progress unattended. 

“You don’t know it’s a girl,” Alex huffed, continuing on. “Could be anyone.” 

“With printing like that?” Reggie shook his head, “nah, it’s totally a girl. And the heart-- don’t forget about the heart. No dude’s gonna leave a heart.” 

“Yeah,” Alex finally sighed, “I guess not.” 

There was a moment of silence, the three of them just standing huddled around Luke’s desk in his second to last class. Luke’s eyes travelled over the lyrics once more, eyes catching on the little heart as a smile lifted onto his face. 

“You know,” Alex prompted, pulling in both Luke and Reggie's attentions, “what I wanna know about all this is, how whoever this girl is read and understood Luke’s writing. Now that’s a miracle.” 

“Hey!” Luke gaped, eyebrows furrowing in offense as Reggie lost it in a fit of surprised laughter, “what’s that supposed to mean? The two of you read it just fine now!” 

“Barely,” Reggie joined in, laughter calming as he tried to catch his breath, “and we’ve had many years to learn and understand the written form of Luke.” 

“You guys are awful,” Luke pouted, “let’s go. We can play around with the sound of these lyrics today, and maybe I can finish up with the lyrics tonight or something.” 

“Alright,” Reggie nodded taking a step forward, “oh, hey!” he paused, spinning back to look at Luke and Alex, “maybe if the song’s done, we can debut it in the music program this Friday, since it’s performance day?” 

“That sounds good,” Alex agreed. “As long as it’s done in time.” 

“It will be,” Luke promised, eyes hard with determination. He glanced down of the two papers in his hands, afraid to put them in his backpack in case the paper with the perfect handwriting of the mystery girl got squished down and wrinkled. “That’s the perfect place to debut it too, good thinkin’, Reg.”

* * *

The song was utterly perfect. 

Luke loved it so incredibly much. Like honestly, he really couldn’t have made it this great without the help of his mystery friend. The mysterious good Samaritan who helped him out by not only rescuing his paper and not dropping it in the trash, but also took the song places he’d never have been able to take it alone. 

The guys seemed to love it just as much as Luke did, the tune getting stuck in everyone’s head the day they finally added the instruments, and the next day of school where Alex hummed along softly and a blearily-eyed Reggie stumbled into their first class of the day together, claiming he’s barely slept at all, and instead spent his evening single the verses quietly to himself. 

Luke hadn’t gotten much more sleep than poor Reggie-- he’d been preoccupied staring at the second draft and scanning through the girls who he knew was in the class after his. It was hard to do, considering he only knew from seeing them leave occasionally, or having them walk in before he and Alex could take off. 

One of those girls had left it for him. Had known that it was his song, and helped him out with it. Someone with insane musical talents, and a heart of gold. 

That following day, Luke decided to test his luck, writing out a quick note of: _Hey, thanks for the help with the song yesterday, it was insanely cool that you picked it up and added what I was missing. You’re super talented by the way. Idk who you are, but I’m guessing you know me? Anyways, just thanks for the help, you’re a life saver! -LP_

He ripped the paper in half, leaving the side with the note on the corner of the desk where he’d found his draft the day before. In an excited rush, for the first-time in... maybe ever? Luke was the one bouncing on his heels while he waited for Alex to hurry up. 

Luke was vibrating excitedly through the next class, waiting impatiently for the day to be over so he could see if his note had worked, and he had a response—or even if the note was just gone? Anything to know someone, hopefully the person who took his seat after him, had seen his gratefulness. 

When the bell did finally ring, Luke waited impatiently for Alex and Reggie to collect their belongings (who were being slower than usual—or maybe Luke was just being fast). 

Finally, deciding they were taking too long, Luke called a quick, ‘I’ll be right back!’ to them before turning on his heels and leaving the room. The music room was a few rooms down, so he arrived quickly. 

It looked much like the day before, a couple slow stragglers, Julie and Flynn too, but Luke didn’t have the time to be distracted by Julie Molina today, not when he made his way to his desk and basically dove to grab the paper sitting perfectly on the edge of the desk. 

It wasn’t his original paper—that one was gone this time. It was, however, the same beautiful cursive from the second draft. Just seeing the handwriting of the girl Luke was falling head over heels for made his chest feel warm and fuzzy. 

_I had my suspicions it was you, LP. Glad you liked it, maybe we can write together sometime... when you figure out who I am, at least._

Following her little note, the anonymous songwriter had sketched in a cute little winking face emoji. He didn’t even know who this girl was, but she was so adorable. 

And also... _challenge accepted_.

* * *

For the rest of the week, following that Wednesday Luke had gotten a reply from the anonymous writer (which he’d refused to tell his boys why he couldn’t wipe the smile off if face if he tried), he worked hard to try and figure out who it could be. 

Who had the talent to almost finish up his song like they had? Who was goofy and adorable enough to leave a cute note and a little heart drawing for Luke to find? Who knew him enough to know it had been his work when there was no indication of what the song really was, or who it was for? 

And that, if you can imagine, was mostly just walking around in metaphorical circles, because there was absolutely no way to figure this out without skipping a class, or being late for a class. And he did not want that getting back to him mother—especially when she was already so weird about the band and all the gigs they were playing. 

Luke gave a sigh as he made his way towards music class. They’d be performing today—the song that he’d finished incredibly fast. Alex and Reggie both adored the song as he did, so they were very confident with their ability to play it. 

As confident as he was, he was still bummed he hadn’t connected any dots with his anonymous song-finisher. He tried to send another note yesterday, but all he’d gotten back was a little smiley face on the torn corner of a piece of loose-leaf. 

That little smiley was in his pocket, not that he’d mention that to anyone else. It just made him happy. 

Alex and Reggie were already in the classroom when he arrived, as were Julie, Flynn, Nick and Carrie—the sophomores of the class. They were really the only ones not in Luke’s grade that he knew, and that was just from his crush on Julie Molina. 

Luke plopped himself down in his chair beside Alex, kicking his feet out in front of him as he waited for Mrs. Harrison to come in and start the performances. 

Everything carried on like usual. His peers going up, playing their instrument, or singing nicely for the class. Luke did enjoy when they had performance days. 

It didn’t take very long before Luke, Alex and Reggie’s turn rolled around, and the three of them moved up to the back of the room where the school drum kit was that Alex borrowed at school. The students turned in their seats to watch them. 

Mrs. Harrison didn’t usually allow partners in performances like this, let alone trios, but she’d made an exception for them when they’d shown her Sunset Curve and the progress they were making outside the school in building up their fame—they'd be playing the Orpheum in no time. 

Besides, she couldn’t deny they weren’t better as a group than all three of them were alone. Plus, Alex tended to get shy when he was to be drumming alone, without Luke and Reggie up there with him. 

“Hey, uh,” Luke called his classmates attention when he, Reggie and Alex were all situated in their positions, “this is a new song I’ve been working on for Sunset Curve and... I had a bit of help from someone, so, I hope you guys like it. It’s called _Edge of Great_.” 

Alex counted them in, and just like every other time they’d played the song since Alex had found the nearly finished second draft, the three of them got lost in the music. Blaring the lyrics proudly, as they absolutely killed it with their individual instruments. 

Luke scanned around the room like he always did when he was performing, first finding Mrs. Harrison’s smiling face as she bobbed her head to the beat of the song. She looked impressed, but that wasn’t new. She always looked impressed when Sunset Curve played in her classroom. She’d told them early on that they’d be big someday. 

His attention drifted around to his peers, scanning each face for a second to gage their reactions and opinions of the song before moving on—until he caught sight of Julie Molina. 

Like Mrs. Harrison, and everyone else in the room as well, her head was bopping along to the beat, but it was her lips that caught Luke off guard. He had to forced himself to keep playing, or he definitely would’ve stopped to gape at the girl. 

Julie was mouthing the words along with him. She knew the lyrics. Julie knew the song they were debuting. There was only one person who could’ve known the songs... and that person had helped him with the lyrics. 

It had been Julie Molina. His anonymous song-finisher. 

Luke had to focus on drawing his attention away from the girl, and throw himself back into playing the song to the best of his abilities. He was sure she’d caught sight of his dopey expression as he finally connected the dots, but she’d just raised an eyebrow and kept mouthing the lyrics along with him. 

Alex and Reggie shot him questioning looks as he turned to look at them as well, more a ritual now than an actual need to check in with his boys. 

Luke was sure his grin was back in full force, because he knew now. He’d put the pieces together, and solved the mystery. It was Julie Molina who’d teased him by remaining anonymous. It was the incredibly talented Julie Molina who helped him along with the song. 

It was Julie who made his heart skip a beat in his chest when he looked down at the little winky face, smiley face, or even the tiny heart she’d left for him. It was Julie who’d known it was him all along, and played around with him in the best way possible. 

He hadn’t known it was possible for him to like Julie Molina any more than he already had—but here he was, openly staring at her as he finished the song up with Alex and Reggie. 

Alex connected the dots before Reggie, grinning widely at Luke while he moved from behind the drums to join the two others when they finished. Reggie followed behind a second later, eyes moving from Julie’s clapping form, to Luke’s goofy grin as they stared at each other. Reggie gaped widely before giving Luke his own bright smile. 

“Thank you, boys,” Mrs. Harrison, gestured them back to their seat, “great performance, and nice song Luke.” 

“Thank you,” the three chorused together, each smiling at the praise. 

Performance carried on, but now Luke was antsy. He wanted to get up and talk to Julie, but he’d get scolded if he did now. 

So, he waited. Knee bouncing as his eyes fell to Julie, only to drop to the floor, or raise to the ceiling when she glanced at him in return. 

Possibly the longest fifteen minutes of his whole seventeen years of life. 

Finally— _finally_ , when the bell rang Luke was quick to hop to his feet and make a beeline for the younger teen. Julie was still sitting, digging around in her bag when he got to her, but when her eyes caught sight of his sneakers, her gaze travelled the length of his body to his face. 

“It was you,” Luke accused, smile wide. He’d dug Julie’s copy of the rough draft from his backpack silently as the performances went on, just so he didn’t show up empty handed. He held the paper out for Julie to look at, and when she did, her gaze lifted back to him with a fond expression. 

“It was me,” Julie agreed with a laugh. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to figure it out.” 

She dug through her bag for a second longer before pulling out Luke’s reply to the finished song. He’d know his own scrawl anywhere, and it made his cheeks heat up to see Julie had actually kept it, instead of tossing it away. 

“You kept it?” Luke managed to breath out, voice squeaky with embarrassment, “I didn’t think you would...” 

“Of course, I would,” Julie cleared her own throat, gaze dropping down as she fiddled with the edge of the paper, “I, uh, I’ve... kinda liked you? For, ah, for a while now?” 

Luke let out a string of sputters, blinking at Julie, “really?” 

She gave a tiny nod, looking up at him. Luke could feel his grin widening, as he stared fondly at Julie, “me too.” 

“You too?” Julie gaped, “no joking?” 

“Honest,” Luke made a playful ‘x’ across his heart in a childish ‘cross my heart and hope to die’ that made Julie laugh. “Alex and Reggie have been trying to get me to talk to you for ages,” Luke admitted. 

“Flynn too,” Julie gave an adoring sigh. “I didn’t think you’d like me back—you're a senior, and you’ve got the band, and I’m sure you’ve got fangirls already throwing themselves at your feet-” 

“Yeah, well,” Luke cleared his throat in an attempt to wipe the flush off his face, “you’re Julie Molina, talented songwriter, with an incredible voice and the ability to play the piano like nobody’s business!” 

Julie’s face lit up at the praise, matching Luke’s flaming cheeks. He cleared his throat, sure his voice would come out squeakier in his nerves than his voice would usually be, “so, uh, how’d you know the song was mine? I mean, there’s like twenty other kids in that class...” 

“I’ve sat in that spot after you all year, so I knew it was you there,” Julie shrugged, “and, well, I walked into the classroom just as Alex ushered you out that day. I saw the paper slip off the desk and flutter to the floor.” 

Luke opened his mouth to reply, to thank her, but she continued on before he could, “it really was a good start to the song, so I just... played around with it a bit. Thought it would suit what you were going for—sorry if I overstepped--” 

“No, no,” Luke was quick to deny, “you didn’t. Really. I’m so happy you did, that’s like my favorite song I’ve come up with yet. And that’s all you.” 

“I’m glad,” Julie gave a laugh before continuing where Luke had cut her off, “I was going to bring the lyrics home and give them to you the next day if you didn’t show up for them, but you did, and I panicked, so I hide over with Flynn. And then there was a note from you the next day and... well, I thought I’d have a bit of fun.” 

Luke gave the girl a laugh, grinning at her, “so, you knew it was me the whole time? With the heart, and the winking face?” 

“Thought I’d shoot my shot,” Julie gave a shrug. “Did it work?” 

“Well,” Luke clicked his tongue, taking a suspenseful second to think about it, “so long as you keep good on the promise to write together sometime? Think of what we can make if we’re in the same room and talking to each other—just looking at _Edge of Great_ ’s outcome, and the chemistry there? And I didn't even know it was you then!” 

“No kidding,” Julie gave a serious nod, “you made something epic out of my little notes-” 

“You’re kidding?” Luke gave a surprised laugh, “that song would be nothing without you, Julie. _You_ made something out of _my_ little notes.” 

“Agree to disagree,” Julie huffed with a small smile, her cheeks still tinted pink. 

“Fine,” Luke laughed, “we’ll come back to that.” Luke froze for a second, “so, uh, did you want to, I don’t know, maybe go out sometime—or, like, have lunch together or something?” 

“I’d... like that,” Julie ducked her head in a nervous nod. 

From the other side of the room, two idiots started clapping—Reggie even going as far as to cheer for Luke finally a growing a pair and asking Julie out. He didn't say anything, but Luke got the message loud and clear just from the teasing grin on either of their faces. Those jerks. 

Julie lifted a hand to her mouth to hide her smile and her light laughs. It really didn’t work, but luckily, Luke really liked the sound of her laugh—even if it was at him and his dumbass friends. 

“Just ignore them, and they’ll go away,” Luke leaned towards Julie, whispering under his breathe jokingly. 

“No, they won’t,” Alex called back from the other side of the room where he was still clapping. 

“That’s alright,” Julie shook her head, smiling fondly over Luke’s shoulder at Reggie and Alex, both them giving her smiles, and the former giving her a little wave “I get it, a package deal. I come with one too.” 

“She sure does,” Flynn called in reply, just her face peeking in from the opposite side of the room where the door was. It was just the five of them alone in the room, since it was the last period of the day. 

“Man, I’m so glad we got to do this alone,” Luke teased loudly, causing Julie to laugh, while Alex, Reggie and Flynn tried to stifle their laughter. 

“I know right,” Julie continued on with the joke, “it would’ve been embarrassing if our, I don’t know, friends, eavesdropped awfully.” 

Flynn snorted a laugh from the door, but Alex and Reggie at least had the decency to look a bit ashamed. Not much, but it was there. Luke gave a laugh, gesturing his boys over, whole Julie did the same for Flynn. At least they’d gotten a moment to themselves in the beginning. 

“Hey,” Flynn bumped her shoulder against Julie’s, “did you tell him you wrote Edge of Great as a duet for the two of you?” 

“Flynn!” Julie yelped, snapping her attention back to her friend. 

“Ooh!” Reggie cheered, “now that, I gotta see.” 

“Same here!” Alex piped in. 

Luke would’ve teased as well, but he was busy trying to keep his cheeks from turning tomato red as he envisioned singing Edge of Great with Julie. 

He’d totally make that happen...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for taking the time to read this tooth-rotting fluff I made. It really is 7k of fluff, oops. 
> 
> Anywho! Comments are very greatly appreciated, as are kudos! Also, big thank you for just taking the time to read this, it means a lot to see! I hope everyone enjoyed! I'll still be working on my JATP fics because it seriously did take over my life!
> 
> Cya around possibly!


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